News Germany
German maize harvest does not take away fear of feed shortage
It is not only in the Netherlands that livestock farmers have difficulty maintaining sufficient feed. The persistent drought of the past 3 years has left many German colleagues with their backs against the wall. Despite the rain of recent weeks, the majority lives in fear of not being able to fill the holes abundantly.
Many livestock farmers fear that the new maize harvest will not yield enough to feed for a year. Stocks from previous years are minimal, given the drought that has dominated the past 3 years. While the rain took some pressure off some livestock farmers, this is certainly not the case for every livestock farmer.
Big differences
Major differences can be seen on the German maize fields. The rain came too late for many plots, such as in the Nordfranken region. The maize has not formed a cob, or only a tiny cob, due to the drought. Depending on the soil type, there is also a clear difference in lengths. Most plots are just under 2 meters, where 4 meters is normally no exception.
Livestock farmers in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are having a hard time. These regions always seem to miss out when a shower finally hits. In the past 3 years this has resulted in a minimal feed supply. Some livestock farmers have therefore chosen to have their winter wheat and triticale chopped and ensiled, instead of threshing it.
The harvest is also expected to start 2 to 3 weeks earlier in many places. Due to the drought, the maize plants in various regions of Bayern, among others, matured much earlier. In addition, the cob formation is so minimal or not even set in and the maize plants are so minimal in length that later chopping has little added value.
German maize area
The Bundesministeriums (BMEL) estimates that the German maize area for this year will be approximately 3 million hectares. Not only is this higher than last year, but it is also a record amount. Despite that, it probably won't deliver record yields like it did in 2014 and 2017.
The possible yield is estimated by the Crop Monitoring Agency of the European Commission (MARS) at 40,1 tons per hectare. This would mean that the yield is slightly higher than in 2019, but still scores 3% below the long-term average. In total, the maize yield is estimated at 92 million tons, compared to 87 million tons last year.
Jorine Cosse
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.